“Have more commuters been able to get a cab during peak hours? Are more taxis plying the roads during peak hours? If, already we are achieving that, then I think the taxi availability indicators can stay as they are or be adjusted downwards.”

What taxi companies could do, perhaps out of jealousy of these apps, is to convince the LTA that such apps have been taking taxis off the roads. Thus making them “unavailable”.

Ang Hin Kee continues, “You cannot ignore the fact that the apps have been a very effective way of matching demand and supply. We should welcome the fact that there are such tools, and therefore you don’t have to use a very crude measure of availability indicators as it is today. We should welcome and be happy with the apps that are helping us meet the requirements”